We first met Bernardo and Manuel at a Wharton MBA pitch competition. They’d cobbled together a WhatsApp flow that moved dollars to pesos faster than the bigger players could refresh their login pages. Some judges flagged risk or dismissed the customer. I saw an overlooked $155 billion corridor—and founders who spoke the customer’s language, literally and knew that trust is distribution. We led their pre-seed and kept leaning in: an exploratory check became the seed; the seed became a seed-extension we underwrote in 2023 when revenue was still low but compounding fast. By then, Félix had negotiated new FX rails and contracts that widened margins meaningfully. My role toggled between recruiter and thought partner. We invested again at Series A and then Series B. Our meetings never drifted into PowerPoint theatre. We reviewed funnel metrics, dissected payback curves and worked through challenges on both sides of the border. We kept asking why customers felt they couldn’t live without Félix—and if that advantage could stay defensible. Today, Félix is still the only remittance product that lets you send money the way abuela sends voice notes. That same chat thread now unlocks bill-pay in Mexico and line-of-credit offers in Houston. The takeaway: when founders build trust and deliver seamless experiences, customers reward them with loyalty—and growth compounds.